trends & technology
Last but most importantly, in
hydroponics you increase the quality and
quantity of your yields, as well as their
content in active principles, especially
when you use the right nutrients.
So we began our tests on Hieracium
pilosella with the understanding that
the faculty in Toulouse would analyze
the harvest and give us its conclusions
about the quality of our plants
compared to soil-grown, and their
content in active principles.
We started our Hieracium from
seeds in a tray with a mix of perlite
and vermiculite. As soon as they
became vigorous young seedlings, we
transplanted them into a one square
meter (m 2 ) hydro Dutch Pot System
(DPS), with a mix of small and medium
size rocks for best adherence to the
root system. We used Flora Series
nutrients and set the nutritive solution
to EC = 1.0 and pH = 5.8-6.2. The plants
developed quite well and rapidly
increased in size. In no time, they
covered the whole area. Maintenance
was next to none: just cleaning the
dead leaves from time to time.
86
grow cycle
To respond to the criteria of the
analysis, we picked part of the plants
before flowering and the other after
flowering, dried them as requested and
sent them to the laboratory.
The results were quite encouraging.
“Batch corresponds to Pharmacopoeia,
presenting a high level of tracers (active
substances),” was the conclusion of the
laboratory’s report.
Indeed, the macroscopic and microscopic
identifications, as well as the mineral
content of our crop, were consistent with the
required norms of the soil-grown control.
The dosage showed that the
hydroponically grown Hieracium
contained 4.24 per cent of active principles
compared to 2.5 per cent for the control.
Needless to say that this first
analysis boosted our spirits, and
opened a large field of investigation
and research for us. Once again,
we had confirmation that we could
not only increase the volume of
production, but also got the assertion
that those products were appropriate
for hum an consumption, and fit to be
used for therapeutic applications.
“In hydroponics you
increase the quality
and quantity of your
yields, as well as
their content in active
principles, especially
when you use the
right nutrients.”